Last year, I blogged about going to Germany with some students as part of a Humanities Learning Journey. Then, H1N1 came along and ruined all our plans. Unfortunately, most of the kids whom we selected to go last year can’t come along with us this year (they’re graduating, and the school believes it will disrupt their final-year studies) so as we went about woefully breaking about 16 teenage hearts, we also had to select a new group of 15-year-olds to come along with us.
The kids we interviewed this year brought something really different to the mix. They were confident, articulate and somewhat worldly of sorts. Some were real standouts and we honestly couldn’t stop marvelling at their responses during our interview. And I have taught/am teaching most of these kids; I never knew they had such wit in them! Teens. I guess we should never pigeonhole them, huh? Anyway, we’re going through the last stage of the selection process now, and I must admit that it’s slightly more difficult selecting the participants this year, mostly because we have a smaller pool to choose from. Apparently, we didn’t have enough sign-ups cos many felt that 9 days was too short a time for them to fully enjoy Germany. Perhaps we didn’t quite emphasise enough that it’s a LEARNING trip?
Students aside, we’ve more or less gotten our itinerary finalised. As it’s a Humanities trip, the main focus will be on the rise and fall of Hitler. We’ll be flying into Munich for a guided City Tour and the Third Reich walking tour, then we’ll head up to Dachau to visit the Concentration Camp and possibly a tour of the BMW Museum. Following that, we’ll stop by Nuremberg, and take a side trip to Prague (yay!) so students can see the developmental difference between new Europe (Germany) and old Europe (Czech Republic). Then it’s off to Dresden, I think so we can visit the VW factory? I’m not quite sure about this, but I’m guessing we won’t be visiting two automobile makers in one trip. It’s probably one or the other. Anyway. Berlin is our last stop and that’s where we’ll get to visit famous landmarks such as Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and a Jewish Memorial.
Blame it on the fact that I love planning itineraries, I feel somewhat invalidated about leaving all the work to the agent. I’m sure they’ll do a much better job (they are the professionals after all) but I’m just not completely comfortable with the idea that I don’t have to do any research of my own this time round. I mean, it’s Europe! For every time my friends and I have been there, we’ve always done heaps of research that I’ve actually come to love the whole process. Besides, it’s extremely satisfying being able to navigate the streets of Europe entirely by ourselves, and asking locals for directions. Now, I’ll simply be one of those people, travelling in a pack. *pouts* Well, I do have students to account for now…
I’ll definitely wanna go back to Germany with my friends. While I know I’ll never get to learn about the history of a place quite like this, I still prefer immersing myself into the culture of a city with my girls. There’s just nothing like travelling with your closest friends and enjoying the sights that are of real interest to us. And quite unabashedly, I’m a teeny bit upset I won’t be able to sample any German beer with students around me 24/7! ;p
